LIMA, Peru—Seven
women credit union leaders from the United States
and Canada traveled
throughout Peru and Chile this week
to visit cooperatives managed by women and learn about the credit unions'
efforts to increase women's access to finance as part of a World Council of
Credit Unions (WOCCU) study trip.

"All around the world,
WOCCU applies market-driven solutions to provide access to finance for those
without access," said trip leader Brian Branch, WOCCU executive vice president
and chief operating officer. "Assisting credit unions in providing women access
to products and services matching their needs and circumstances has always been
part of our strategy. This group is taking us a step further, identifying
strategies that WOCCU and participating credit unions can use to develop
leadership opportunities for women in the global credit union system."

During their weeklong
travels, the U.S.-Canada delegation visited US$4.8 million asset, 8,626-member
San Francisco de Huánuco Credit Union, which joined the WOCCU program last
July. The group also traveled to Santiago, Chile and visited US$1.2 billion asset Coopeuch
Credit Union, one of Latin America's largest
credit unions. Coopeuch serves more than 370,000 members through 73 branches throughout
Chile.

WOCCU is implementing and
partially funding a three-year (2006-09) technical assistance program in Peru,
with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and contributions
from the National Federation of Peruvian Credit Unions (FENACREP). The program goal
is to increase income and wealth generation for poor households through
improvements in financial services and greater market access for their products.
Opportunities for value-chain financing, a method by which financial support is
provided along specific products' development "chain" from manufacture or planting
to final sale, is also part of WOCCU's focus in Peru.

Poor women in developing
countries face obstacles to economic and social advancement, including denial
of access to education, healthcare, ownership rights and capital, according to
the International
Center for Research on
Women. The program's efforts to increase women's access to financial services
through the introduction of targeted products that respond to market demand is
one of the best ways to combat rural poverty, according to Luis Jiménez,
director of WOCCU's program in Peru.

Crece Mujer (Grow Woman), a group-lending initiative for poor
women microentrepreneurs in rural areas, is being introduced in several of Peru's
nine program credit unions. The "collateral" for loans is the solidarity among
the group members to cover each other's weekly repayments should anyone falter.
The delinquency rate remains at 0% in two credit unions that have been group
lending since October 2007.

The WOCCU program helped
another of the participating credit unions launch an urban individual
microcredit product for micro-entrepreneurs. The credit union is experiencing
new member growth, delinquency reduction and further profitability as a result.

According to Manuel
Rabines, general manager of FENACREP and second vice president of the WOCCU
board, there were 168 FENACREP-affiliated credit unions serving 674,000 members
as of December 2007. The credit unions had $758 million in assets and held a
2.3% share of Peru's
national financial system's credit and 1.9% of the deposit market.

World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. World Council promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

World Council has implemented more than 290 technical assistance programs in 71 countries. Worldwide, 57,000 credit unions in 105 countries serve 217 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.

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Contact: Rebecca CarpenterOrganization: World Council of Credit UnionsE-mail: rcarpenter@woccu.orgPhone: +1-608-395-2031